If you're having a hard time keeping up with the Cowboys' allotment of picks in the next couple of NFL Drafts, it's not your fault. Dallas has been wheelin' and dealin' picks like we haven't seen in a long time, and this week's trade for cornerback Joey Porter Jr. only further jumbled the landscape.
A series of trades over the last two years has created an unorthodox group of picks in 2027 and 2028. This is especially true next year, when Dallas may have more picks from other teams than its originals.
We're here to help! Let's look at the upcoming drafts, which picks Dallas actually has, and where all their original picks have gone.
Cowboys' 2027 NFL Draft picks
Barring any other trades between now and late April, here's what Dallas is looking at for 2027:
- 1st Round - Original pick OR Packers pick (whichever's lower)
- 2nd Round - Original pick
- 4th Round - Steelers pick
- 7th Round - Patriots pick (from Houston)
Yep, that's it. And for the first time in a long time, Dallas isn't projected to receive any compensatory picks. Their active offseason, with signings like Jalen Thompson, P.J. Locke, Cobie Durant, and Otito Ogbonnia, offset any free-agent departures.
As we all well know, the Jets will receive the better (higher) of either the Cowboys' or the Packers' first-round pick from last year's Quinnen Williams trade. As of right now, with both Dallas and Green Bay at 1-2, it's hard to say which pick is headed to New York.
So what happened to all their other picks? The third-rounder went to Pittsburgh as part of the Broderick Jones trade. The fourth went to Green Bay for Rashan Gary. The fifth was a leftover piece from acquiring George Pickens last year. The sixth just went to the Steelers for Porter, and the original seventh went to Philly when Dallas traded down with them last April.
Fans of some other teams may be used to this, but it's a foreign country for Cowboys Nation. After years of watching Dallas cling to its picks, this is quite chaotic.
Cowboys' 2028 NFL Draft picks
Things settle down a bit in 2028, at least for now. But even this far ahead, those picks haven't been immune from activity.
- 1st Round - Original pick
- 3rd Round - Original pick
- 4th Round - Original pick
- 5th Round - Original pick
- 6th Round - Original pick
- 6th Round - Saints pick
At the very least, there isn't a bunch of mumbo jumbo yet from other teams' picks. But the Cowboys have already dipped into their 2028 capital, just sending their second-rounder to Pittsburgh as the principal asset in the Porter trade.
The seventh-round pick belongs to New Orleans, which went to them in a deal for OL prospect Asim Richards last year. We got the Saints' sixth-rounder in the exchange, giving Dallas the extra pick in that late round.
You got it? Clear as mud? This is just a snapshot, of course, with plenty of room for change before these drafts occur. We're still over a month from the November 10th trade deadline for 2026, and then there's the early offseason.
But even if nothing else happens, that 2027 draft is going to feel very light for the Dallas Cowboys.
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